


AN IDEAL VERSION.

by ThatRaeRae



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Even if he’s a bit of a jerk (and I’m warming up to him in season 3 like oof), F/M, Fluff and Mush, Look my son deserves so much love, tw: abuse mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 22:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17170940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRaeRae/pseuds/ThatRaeRae
Summary: Love isn’t about blinding us to each other’s faults, but accepting them. But sometimes. . . you end up thinking up of an idealised version of someone in your head.Instead of knowing the ( real them ).





	AN IDEAL VERSION.

Reggie had known Kaia Jimenez since they were little; sure, they lived in the same neighbourhood and talked on occasions mostly due to their fathers and their business work, but that didn’t seem to faze them as they played together.

 

As he comforted her when she cried over scratches that he had placed band-aids over, clutching her hand as they laid sprawled out in her room; gazing effortlessly at the glow in the dark star stickers that dotted the ceiling.

 

Though they seemed to have drifted apart over the passing years, mostly on Kaia’s part because of her father and other circumstances that seemed to have her cut off socially from the world.

 

But the pair have gotten the opportunity to talk to each other more since the middle of sophomore year leading up to the start of their junior year. And it taken Reggie quite a while to even notice her existence, as he was wrapped up in football and partying and his own looks as he should, she content hiding in the world of books.

 

Even as he saw an indescribable despair behind those eyes, even as dread began to swim around in the depths of his stomach when upon the realisation that something was wrong with  _Riverdale’s Sunshine._

 

Kaia was gentle with a heart of gold to boot, though that came with a somewhat rare ardent attitude—and everyone appreciated her for it, loved her for it, too—and admittedly, he found himself in the same boat. But there was something to her he couldn’t seem to put his finger on.

 

Even when realising he was developing a crush on her, when his heart was pounding quicker every time he saw her or when she would say his name. Little quirks of hers which left his mouth dry and his palms sweating.

 

Reggie was a Casanova; attractive, flirtatious and able to get any girl he wanted without much a sweat or even some flirty effort, but girls like Kaia seemed to have him working ten times hard to impress. His father would always say everything he did was pointless, that he was unworthy, useless; that all his effort was for naught.

 

(Or he would just exemplify that to his son in the form of beatings which would leave Reggie feel empty, worthless on the inside—as he masked his pained fate with a cocky grin and attitude that left others wanting to strangle him).

 

He wanted Kaia to like him for more than he appeared to be, he wanted her to look at him with a warm smile that left his heart racing and his words trapped in his throat. He _wanted_ her to love him and only him if she felt that way.

 

To Reggie, Kaia was like a scarf you wrapped around your neck or the fluffy blanket you’d pull over your frame as winter rolled in—caution, warmth and comfort all condensed into a single human being—or like _sunflowers_ , bright, vibrant, wonderful.

 

(Damn, what in the hell was he thinking of her like this?)

 

Even with his jerky qualities, she treated him kindly and not with disdain; though there were times she’d give him a stern talking to concerning how he carried himself in general.

 

That was how Reggie saw her, but, that was all in his head and he knew he was blind to everything else. To the broken scars she carried, the pained smile that refuses to reach her eyes, to the times she was late to school; experiencing difficulty in getting out of bed as she saw no reason to live.

 

Rather oblivious (at first) to the stormy rain cloud hovering over his endearing sunflower.

 

But this wasn’t one sided, Kaia also was oblivious to certain aspects of Mantle the Magnificent and harboured too many unrealistic expectations in her head.

 

Reggie Mantle was wonderful in her eyes; effortlessly handsome, talented on the football field but she wasn’t blind to everything else as one would think. She knew he was a jerk, a cliche jock who certainly wasn’t rather bright, a bully to some. And she didn’t approve of his behaviour.

 

He was rather flawed down to a t and she knew that, she revelled in that; but deep down, something was nagging at her ever expanding conscience.

 

Don’t judge a book by its cover or so the saying goes, right?

 

As much as Kaia wanted to dislike Reggie with all of her might, she found herself unable to. Not due to that massive crush she developed during sophomore year, but as she c o u l d n ‘ t even do such a thing.

 

It would really sting her pride trying to hate someone who did no wrong, who was distasteful but who also was probably a decent person on the inside—she had other people in her life who deserved her hatred which she kept imprisoned in the confines of her mind—her parents deserved it, and them only.

 

Who told her she was a monster between moments of verbally and physically attempting to shut her down, that all her kind acts was a mask for manipulation, that she was only able to make people happy by manipulating them to her whim.

 

But she was proving them wrong in that department. . . just one little step at a time. By existing and being the person she was, who others loved her for.

 

Yet here they both were; seated at each other’s side as the world moved on without them. As they sat and contemplated on how they should. . . move forward, in a way.

 

“I like you.” Reggie was rather blunt, straightforward as he looked Kaia in the eye, with red cheeks and arms awkwardly resting at his side.

 

“But that doesn’t mean I’m trying to get to you and break your heart! I—fuck, don’t get the wrong idea on what I’m doing and saying, _Kai_.”

 

There’s this gentle shake of his head as he tried to pick himself up together, his confident demeanour slipping away as his gaze was now fixated on his sneakers.

 

“ _Please_.”

 

Soft and full of emotion, the way that singular word left his lips and escaped into the air; it contrasted with how irritated he looked with himself at the moment. It contrasts with how Reggie was on most days.

 

“I just—give me a chance with you, one chance and I’ll drop it after. Let me take you out somewhere nice if you want me to, if you feel that way for me—look, I, it’s okay if you don’t like me. Nobody likes me even if I say I’m loved and say everything is made for me, you know?”

 

His voice evidently cracks, laughter threatening to escape the depths of his stomach at any moment when realising he rambled on for too long; anxiety taking root in his limbs and keeping him planted to the damned earth.

 

_Please don’t hate me, please don’t hate me._

 

There was silence between them, Reggie taking every precarious second to glance in the short girl’s direction as a lump formed in his throat.

He hopes he wasn’t pressuring her into speaking, he hopes he wasn’t coming off as an asshole. Reggie prays he didn’t make her feel uncomfortable, no, _unsafe_ around him.

 

He knew for a while Kaia had trouble opening up emotionally to others, mostly keeping her problems and thoughts to herself. He had no idea why but he didn’t want to pry or come off as invasive and nosy.

 

In Reggie’s right mind, a person like Kaia deserves space and privacy.

 

As much as everyone else in this hellhole of a town did; a privilege all deserved at this point in time.

 

But in midst of seeing her lips move, he would pause, his heart leaping to his throat when hearing her first words in midst of their conversation in a while.

 

“I do have a crush on you and honestly? I may have. . . fallen for you too but—that is probably just me falling for an ideal version of you I’ve thought up of in my head, Reg.”

 

It was so strange for her to talk so openly about her feelings like this; but Reggie was in the exact same boat. Emotions and feelings were rather complicated, to say the least; and it wasn’t easy for either of them to express it.

And by far, she hoped she was putting on a first impression for him by being honest and by that, she means,  _brutally honest._

 

Even if it meant bringing up how she felt about other aspects of him she had come over the last year to dislike.

 

“I mean, you’re a jerk with an ego, sure,” Reggie felt her words sting for a moment before she resumed speaking with a smile plastered on her lips, “But I know there’s more to you I need to know, and I want to get to know you better, know the real you before I drown in my misconceptions and get blinded by my feelings, you know?”

 

But right here and there, gentle hands would rest idly on his calloused ones, dark eyes lifting to bore into his own, the world appearing to fall away from behind them.

 

Neither could move nor speak. But it was only for a shadow of a moment—before they got back into the groove of things—Kaia giving Reggie one of those gentle smiles that seemed to melt his heart.

 

And now, he knew exactly why she’s had him wrapped around her fingers for a while.

 

”Can we try to get to know each other more? To know each other’s true sides? I-If that makes sense?” Catching herself as she stammered, with red cheeks, her gaze averting quickly to avoid his.

 

Out of pure embarrassment.

 

And this managed to elicit a smirk out of the football captain, a hand lifting to rub gently at the top of her head. “What was that, Princess? Speak louder for me?”

 

”I—I said we should get to know each other more!”

 

But then she quickly added in with an increasingly growing blush, “before moving to the next time level.” It was lovely, seeing her easily shift into a flustered mess, hidden by the composed front she hid from everyone.

 

Kaia Jimenez has him in her grasp, and his heart was undoubtedly in her hands.

 

It was an idea Reggie could get behind; knowing the true side to someone they hid behind a mask, an idealistic version they put out to the world to hide their flaws, to be loved and adored without fear.

 

And that was all he wanted—and he was getting it—one step at a time; with someone who wanted to see him for who he truly was.


End file.
